Euphoria star Jacob Elordi recalls his intense approach to his role in young adult romance movie The Kissing Booth. Often referred to as the ‘It boy’ of the moment, Elordi’s claim to fame was his just out of high school role as Noah Flynn in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth films. Based on a book series of the same name, the trilogy kicked off in 2018. The films follow Elle (Joey King), a teen that lets nothing come between her friendship with childhood best friend Lee (Joel Courtney) — until a budding romance with Lee’s bad boy brother (Elordi) changes everything. 

Despite The Kissing Booth’s mixed reviews from critics, the film was a hit with audiences. It became one of the most popular original films on Netflix upon its release, catapulting Elordi into stardom. Though he had some trouble finding work after the first film, an audition for Sam Levinson’s HBO teen drama Euphoria, which premiered in 2019, changed everything and cemented his celebrity status. Plus, the audience success of The Kissing Booth led to two sequels, keeping Elordi’s teen heartthrob status intact. In February of this year, Euphoria was renewed for a season 3 shortly after the season 2 premiere, so Elordi is likely to grace the silver screen as bad boy Nate Jacobs once again. 

Related: How The Kissing Booth 4 Could Make Up For The Third Movie's Bad Ending

In an interview with GQ, Elordi discusses his approach to acting. For someone whose best-known roles are that of a high school bad boy, Elordi is surprisingly studious when preparing for parts. For The Kissing Booth, he read the book series religiously. When he discovered that his character was a smoker in the books, he tried introducing the habit to his on-screen character, but Netflix shut it down. See Eloridi’s reaction below:

“I was like, ‘This is bullshit!’ I remember going to war for it. I was like, ‘Are we lying to the f--king millions of 14-year-olds out there? This guy smokes nicotine. It says here on page four – look!’ I imagine people were just like, ‘Jesus f--king Christ. Is this guy serious?’”

While Elordi’s approach would not be out of place in edgy HBO drama series Euphoria, it’s interesting to hear that his level of commitment to a role doesn’t discriminate based on audience or tone. Though Elordi is clearly looking to branch out since the conclusion of The Kissing Booth films in 2021, his comments show that he was far from phoning it in during his time as part of the teen rom-com. Though it’s possible that he was putting in the work to an amusing degree, he seems to have realized the humor since then. 

The desire to be transparent with fans about the characters he portrays has translated well to his success on Euphoria and will likely serve him in upcoming Emerald Fennell directed film Saltburn. The film and television industries are constantly changing, but it’s clear that this young leading man will continue to embrace each role with a solemn ferocity. And while Elordi has admitted that in hindsight, his indignation during The Kissing Booth was a little absurd, it’s clear that he took the role seriously because he understood that it was important to the audience. That’s a heartening trait as an actor, though admittedly one that has hopefully learned to pick his battles. 

Next: Euphoria Season 2 Tried To Make Nate A Hero (& It Didn't Work)

Source: GQ